Moro self-rule within peace process

(Last of two parts)

The current effort to overhaul the Muslim autonomous region is the first time that the architecture of Moro self-determination is designed in the context of the peace process.

The autonomy experiment started on March 25, 1977, when then President Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1628 establishing the provisional government covering 13 provinces in Mindanao plus Palawan. These same areas are enumerated in the Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 1976 that the government forged with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on Dec. 23, 1976.

By excluding the MNLF from the effort, the experiment became a unilateral action by the Marcos administration. By April 17, 1977, a plebiscite was held whereby three provinces (Davao del Sur, South Cotabato and Palawan) opted out of the autonomous setup, and the creation of one autonomous region was roundly rejected.

Plebiscite

By May 7, 1977, Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1628-A adopting the plebiscite results and constituted the Regional Autonomous Government each for Western Mindanao and Central Mindanao. The first elections were held on May 7, 1979.

When the 1987 Constitution took effect, then President Corazon Aquino organized the Mindanao Regional Consultative Commission (MRCC) to draft the Organic Act of what would become the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

According to historian Rudy Rodil, a member of the MRCC, the Moro revolutionary groups shunned the process, as this did not involve them from the start.

In 1989, a plebiscite was held in the 13 provinces but only four—Lanao del Sur minus Marawi City, Maguindanao minus Cotabato City, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi—voted to make up the ARMM.

Reformed ARMM

But the MNLF, through the 1996 Final Peace Agreement, embraced a reformed ARMM as a vehicle of meaningful Moro autonomy. Through an amended Organic Act, another round of plebiscite was held in the same areas. This led to the inclusion of Marawi City and Basilan province (minus Isabela City) in the ARMM.

But kinks remain. The MNLF has standing proposals for the improvement of the autonomous government, based on discussions of an OIC-facilitated tripartite review of the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement that started in 2007.

Territory

The extent of its administrative jurisdiction will depend on the result of a plebiscite held to ratify the basic law, the charter of the future Bangsamoro government. Initially, the parties defined its core territory as comprising the ARMM; the six Lanao del Norte towns and 39 villages in six North Cotabato towns that voted for inclusion in the ARMM during a plebiscite in 2001, and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela (in Basilan) that opted not to be part of the ARMM in the same plebiscite.

The parties also agreed on a mechanism, akin to a people’s initiative, whereby communities that are contiguous to the defined core territory may decide to be part of the Bangsamoro polity.

The parties further agreed that communities “where there are substantial populations of the Bangsamoro” may avail themselves of the mechanism even if they are not contiguous to the core territory.

‘Area of autonomy’

The extent of a Moro “area of autonomy” was first defined in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement—the 13 provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Palawan, Maguindanao and Davao del Sur, and the nine cities of Zamboanga, Pagadian, Dapitan, Dipolog, Iligan, Marawi, Cotabato, General Santos and Puerto Princesa.

This is also loosely referred to as the Minsupala region for Mindanao, Sulu Archipelago and Palawan.

Rodil said the basis for this geographic extent was not clear. But in historical accounts, this corresponds to the combined political dominion of the sultanates of Sulu, Buayan and Maguindanao.

Through time, this territory has grown into 15 provinces with the addition of Zamboanga Sibugay, which was created on Feb. 24, 2001, out of the third legislative district of Zamboanga del Sur, and Sarangani, which was created on March 16, 1992, out of the third legislative district of South Cotabato.

The cities have also grown to 15, with the addition of Kidapawan in North Cotabato, Koronadal in South Cotabato, Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat, Digos in Davao del Sur, Lamitan and Isabela in Basilan.

22% land area of Mindanao

Gleaned from the original area of autonomy defined in 1976, which comprises 75,511 square kilometers, the proposed Bangsamoro core territory is just a measly 22 percent, with an estimated land area of 17,000 sq km. That is 16 percent of the total land area of Mindanao.

In current terms, the area of autonomy contemplated in 1976 encompasses 6,184 villages. The Bangsamoro core territory accounts for only 2,726 villages, just 27 percent of Mindanao’s total 10,082 villages.

The comprehensive peace agreement, however, provides for the delineation of Bangsamoro waters, comprising largely the Moro Gulf and the Sulu Sea, to provide political connectivity between its territory in mainland Mindanao and in the Sulu Archipelago.

According to Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), this is so because the political settlement between the government and the MILF is “anchored on the facts of history and the reality of the present.”

“The Moros are not asking for the whole of Mindanao because circumstances have superseded some facts of history. They just want a parcel of it, especially where they predominate,” wrote Moro writer Salah Jubair in “Bangsamoro: A Nation under Endless Tyranny.”

Moro identity recognized

The recognition of a Bangsamoro identity is another significant aspect of the comprehensive peace accord. As defined, “those who at the time of conquest and colonization were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago and its adjacent islands including Palawan, and their descendants whether of mixed or of full blood shall have the right to identify themselves as Bangsamoro.”

This definition encompasses the indigenous peoples, whether they have embraced Islam or Christianity. This is an improvement on the popular notion that only Muslims are Bangsamoro.

According to Rodil, a consultant to the government panel in peace talks with the MNLF, it was only in the peace process with the MILF that Moro identity was officially recognized by the government.

Distinct history

In Republic Act No. 9054, the amended ARMM Organic Act, the phrase “Bangsa Moro” appeared only twice to refer to “citizens who are believers of Islam and who have retained some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions.”

Rodil, vice chair of the government panel in peace talks with the MILF, said the acceptance of Moro identity within the purview of the negotiations occurred sometime in 2004.

At the heart of the Moro struggle for self-determination is a claim of having a distinct history as a people and a national identity different from that of the dominant Filipino ideology.